April 24, 2011

Today I have a before/after Brog for you.
A few weeks ago a found a Takatoku Gariba C, or is it Garibr C (?),
on Yahoo.Â Usually these non Bullmark bikes, even loose specimen have
lots of fans out there…so they go for more Yen I want to pay for one.
Apropos “non Bullmark”. Akumaizer 3 toys are licensed by Takatoku,
but Bullmark produced many (most) of the Akumaizer sofubis, MFV’s,
plastic toys and even the Zabitan Zenmai. Many of the toys are “double branded”
with Takatoku & Bullmark logos. What a great toy manufacturer cooperation.
But I was pretty sure that THIS one,Â even with box, won’t go for a fortune.
and I was right…

When Evil on his bike arrived in germany, he looked like on the auction fotos.
It seems that he had a bad accident at some point in the last 35 years…
yepp, riding a motobike is dangerous.

I wasn’t sure what really was wrong with Evil when I “analyzed” the auction fotos,
because the quality of the pics wasn’t good (as usual) and the item description wasn’t very
informative too. What I know was that his head was pretty deformed (melted?),
he had many discolorations on his body, the box was “repaired” with some kind of tape, etc.
Could be a nice restoration object, or a few thousand Yen burned for junk…but no risk, no fun ;-)

The first thing I noticed when hold the toy in my hands was that the “discolorations ”
on Evil’s body is only dirt…nice mixture of 30 years old dust and nicotine.
But his bend back head looks really evil…haha, funny wordplay.
Ok, sorry…shitty joke ;-)
When the vinyl is dryed up, it could break, when I try bending the head back into position.
I decided to use the “hot water” method. I think this is the best method to bring vinyl
back into “form”. Better than using a hairdryer.
I restored quiet a few vintage vinyls that way…works pretty well.

I pour only a bit hot (nearly boiling) water on Evil and…

…“PLOEEP” (this was the sound),

Evil’s head was back into position.
Wow, a 5 second restoration. I was amazed!
Getting rid of the tape and cleaning the box, without destroying the artwork, took hours.
Here is the result. A pretty nice looking toy & box. i thing the only thing that is missing
is Evil’s scarf. But I’m not 100% sure if he came with one.

Nice colorful box. The plastic window is a bit battle damaged over the years.
But I won’t replace it, I want to keep it original.

Now Evil is ready to race again with his friction drive bike!

So, this was my little Akumaizer motorcycle story for today.
I have a few more to tell ;-)

August 21, 2010

Josh: Mason, Regan and I decide to get brunch, and then head back and open some packages that arrived earlier in the day from Japan.

You all know the feeling. It is that birthday or holiday come early half giddiness..

Two boxes sit on my bed. One slightly larger than the other. Kanji scrawled and exploding on the surface.

I realize one of them holds a number of items Regan purchased on Yahoo Japan in the past couple months. I sense her excitement . I first open the larger box and find waiting a Banso G5, A vinyl Bullmark reissue of a Ultra 7 Batt op, and a GA 51 first version that I bought on a whim.

Mason looks on with interest at the later, and it occurs to me he only lacks a first version of the GA51 in his Gaiking collection.

Handing the GA51 to Mason, I tell him to complete his set. He happily obliges me and takes the toy.

Regan is chomping at the bit and I hand the knife to her and let the madness ensue…

But I will let her (and the photos) tell you about that.

Regan: The first box I unwrapped was the die-cast Takatoku Umi-Bozu. Oh god, I love this dude. I love his Kewpie-doll arms, his blonde coiffure and his crazed (extendable!) stare. I love his seemingly dubious red…friend….thing and his completely inexplicable marble…projectile….thing. This toy is like the embodiment of my early 20s – I have no idea what’s going on but I know that it’s AWESOME. Next up were the Irutan pieces: the standard-sized Bullmark vinyl, Grip die-cast and plastic necklace of completely unknown origin. All I really want to say about these toys is that I have never seen anyone so thrilled to be a cowboy dolphin. I’m never going to let him watch The Cove. Next was, well, I have no idea what this toy is. Josh maintains that it looks like a Kure Kure Takora reject. I really just love the irony of a wind-up octopus dressed like a sushi chef. Did I mention he has feet? ‘Cause he does. Lastly was the orgy of Rockbat: the Blazer motorcycle vinyl, the 2 Rockbat mini vinyls and, of course, the disco version. These toys are amazing – particularly the sparkly charm of the latter. I can feel you rolling your eyes right now but you know what? I am still a girl and I will make squeaky noises at Rockbat all I want.

Josh: After the girl plays with her prizes I manage to find a few more gems hidden among the others myself. I unwrap a underrated Yonezawa Red baron wind up, a few Gaiking puzzles and a Godzilla v.s Megalon soundtrack 7 inch.

Mason leads us to the kitchen and opens up Gaiking. Putting him together, he flys him around and we all sit back in our chairs drunk with nostalgia and happiness. Watching the moments of relived childhood wash over others is a gift in itself. We as a community need that. It is what keeps the toy boomerang alive and well.

August 17, 2010

OK, another quick one. Spent some time this weekend going through some of my super robot sofubi. Trying to create a “list” of what’s out there. Talk about an exercise in futility….

Wall O’ Sofubi: Just a quick couple shots of one of my wall shelves with carded standard sized Popy, Clover and Takatoku sofubi.

Bag O’ Sofubi: This is one of four big ziploc freezer bags packed full of bagged mini sofubi. These things look like couch pillows..

Also, behold the GREATEST packaging for a mini sofubi ever. If you feel you have found or have one that is better, please share but as far as I’m concerned this Baxinger is the best I’ve ever seen:

AND, last but not least, the GREATEST carded double set of super robot minis ever:

I’m coming to find that creating any sort of definitive list of super robot sofubi might just be impossible, but something is better than nothing I suppose. It boggles my mind how folks that catalog Kaiju have the patience to do so. There truly is NO end… NO END.. Stay tuned.

July 30, 2010

I give you the scale-less Variable Vehicle VV-54 AR Mugen Calibur soft vinyl figure from Takatoku toys. Created, and released in the midst of their swan song unfortunately..

A 6.5 inch horror show compliments of Mr. Robert Duban, author of the monumental and unparalleled ToyboxDX Datafiles, this sucker came to me in the mail about a year ago. Regrettably, it’s taken me this long to wax poetic about its absolute “suck”, but here we go!!

Don’t get me wrong. Those of us who reside in the umteenth circle of hell which is super/real robot sofubi collecting, things like this absolutely SHINE!!!!!! when they are associated with the word “suck”.. That being said, thanks Duban! Thanks for the “suck”! Ewwwwwww….

Enjoy the “suck” all you fans of new school diecast CMs Dorvack piece. Enjoy the 3 pitiful points of articulation this beautiful bastard of vintage Japanese toy collecting sports proudly! Behold him in all of his “suck” grace! And yes, as if you weren’t asking yourself, it does have a waist joint…

May 26, 2010

Zenderman (ã‚¼ãƒ³ãƒ€ãƒžãƒ³ Zendaman) is a Japanese anime television series which first aired from February 3, 1979 to January 26, 1980 on every Saturday from 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm with a total of 52 episodes. It is the third show in the sequence of “Time Bokan Series” produced by Tatsunoko Productions. It was preceded by “Yatterman” and succeeded by “Otasukeman”. Gotta love wikipedia, right? Now that we’ve got the history out of the way..

*It is believed that Bullmark and Takatoku worked in a partnership at one point to manufacture and distribute TTs missile firing vinyl line, much like Bullmark did with Sanzen, Onzen and others.